Image: Javaid Sadiq
After a grating 9 years waiting for asylum in Thailand a disabled Pak-Christian finally finds refuge in Canada.
In 2014, the family fled to Thailand to escape persecution, after Javaid Sadiq (40 yrs) and Pervais Sadiq (43 yrs) two brothers, were accused of blasphemy.
Both men had been working in a stitching factory in Karachi and identified that a Muslim supervisor was stealing garments from their employer.
When one brother approached the supervisor and asked him to stop stealing the brothers found themselves accused of insulting Muhammed.
Both brothers faced beatings, avoided arrest, while being shunted between the houses of relatives in different cities, before finally catching a plane to Thailand.
Now finally, after an agonizing year wait asylum has been offered to the brothers and their families.
Javaid Sadiq was infected with polio when he was three years old, the condition left his left arm paralyzed. He lived in Bahar Colony, Lahore with his elderly parents, elder brother Pervaiz Sadiq and his family.
Both brothers worked as a garment stitchers at a garments factory in Raiwand (near to Lahore). Despite his disability Javaid worked to help support his family including his elderly parents.
While at work, Javaid noticed that clothing inventories did not match the quantity of items being produced. He and Pervaiz had noticed the supervisor taking items from the store without cause. Javaid explained to our Operations Manager in Thailand, he said:
“The supervisor had been stealing clothing items for a long time.
“It was causing a deficit in the production and reduced profits – I knew what was happening and wanted to stop the theft.
“I spoke with my supervisor, I told him that if he did not stop I would report the missing items to senior managers”
The polite warning turned into a heated argument between the supervisor and Javaid. The Supervisor threatened Javaid of dire consequences should he inform the owner.
The next day when both brothers arrived at the factory and started their shift everything seemed ok. However, after Muslim workers returned from their prayers the brothers felt a change in the atmosphere. Suddenly an enraged Muslim worker shouted ‘kill them they have used derogatory words for our prophet’.
Javaid, described what happened next, he recalled:
“Suddenly a large number of Muslim employees began attacking us.
“They dragged us outside the building while beating us”
“We both thought we were going to be killed.”
While outside, an opportunity came for them to escape, and the two men fled the factory and took refuge at the house of a distant relative, at a town in the vicinity of Lahore. When the relative realised what had happened, he agreed they could stay for the night but would have to find somewhere else to stay the next day. The relative was frightened about the legal ramifications and cultural retribution he and his family would face for giving shelter to someone accused of blasphemy.
That same night police raided their parents home at Bahar Colony as part of their investigation of the alleged blasphemy. The police threatened to arrest family members if the brothers failed to reach the police station.
The next day Javaid along with his brother Pervaiz Sadiq and other family members travelled to Faisalabad to seek refuge with some relatives. They were given shelter for a week but were told they must fond somewhere to live after that as the relatives, did not want to get embroiled in problems relating to the blasphemy accusation.
For months the brothers were shunted between the houses of relatives, until they finally decided to flee the Pakistan. They then arrived in Thailand in 2014 and went straight to the UNHCR to apply for asylum, but soon realised that the Royal Thai Government had not ratified UN Conventions for Asylum and they were not welcome there.
British Asian Christian Association, helped the BBC film a secret documentary at the Bangkok IDC when one of our team travelled secretly to Bangkok with a BBC film crew (click here). The team risked arrest to shed light on the situation faced by the Pak-Christian asylum diaspora there. This link (here) is a report that we helped BBC’s Chris Rogers write which also contains a short video of one of our schools for asylum seekers. You can watch the full documentary here:
In Thailand the brothers shared a rented small condo unit in the suburbs of Bangkok, despite having filed an application for asylum at the office of UNHCR in Bangkok, they were advised that they had illegal status in Thailand.
Javiad, described the difficulties they faced, he explained:
“We have had to wait for 9 years to get a place of relocation.
“During this time, we lived in constant fear of being arrested by the Royal Thai Police.
“We have seen not hundreds but thousands of our friends detained in the brutal Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC).
“My young niece and nephew have grown up in two societies that have hated them, it pains me.
“Somehow we avoided detection but it has been a harrowing experience for all of us.”
Elder brother Pervaiz, his wife and two children were settled in Cananda in August 2022 by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Javaid will be travelling there in December 2022 and will be reunited with his family.
Before he leaves, Javaid will have to raise funds to pay for fines to the Royal Thai Government for overstaying his visa in Thailand. Fines that Thai authorities are not willing to concede despite his refugee status being confirmed by the UNHCR. The fines amount to £600 and Javaid would also like help with buying warm clothes for Canada where winter has begun and temperatures are well below freezing. If you would like to help Javaid pay his fines and buy warm clothing please donate by clicking (here).
Juliet Chowdhry, Trustee for British Asian Christian Association, said:
“Javaid and other members of his family endured the ignominy of a blasphemy action, when trying to stop a theft.
“They have suffered hatred in their home country and a new manifestation of hate in Thailand, a country they fled to, to be free of persecution.
“It has been a hellish nine years for the Sadiq family, but lets be honest they escaped potential death in Pakistan.
“There’s not much more I can add this account is raw and genuine, suffice to say I thank God that Canada did the write thing and is offering a safe haven.
“I wish more western nations would be more welcoming to long suffering Pak-Christians.”
After devastating attacks on Christian communities in Gojra 2009 and St Joseph Colony, Lahore in 2013, masses of Christians fled the country. Thailand was their main destination. In 2012, over 9,000 Pak-Christians were seeking asylum in Bangkok, the largest asylum seeking community in the country.
On arrival in the country despite the presence of UNHCR the families found themselves prone to arrest and detainment even when granted full refugee or asylum seeker status. This is because Royal Thai Government refuses to ratify UN conventions on Asylum and treat thousands of Pak Christians as illegal. A constant threat of being arrested by the Thai police keeps the asylum seeking families in depression.
You can learn more about attacks on Christians in Pakistan (here)
